Should Foreign Buyers be Banned from the B.C. Housing Market?

Andrew Weaver, head of the BC Green Party, believes BC should follow New Zealand’s example and entirely ban foreign buyers from owning homes in the province.

“(Foreign buyers) looking for a safe place to park your capital because of tumultuous times. We don’t believe they should put the social costs on British Columbians and make so they can’t afford to live here.”

Joshua Gottlieb, Associate Professor of Economics at UBC has a different perspective.

“There is no evidence that an absolute ban is going to solve the (affordability) problems.”

He and his colleagues with BC Housing Affordability Fund suggest a more measured approach that would not discriminate based on nationality and wouldn’t be such a blunt instrument as an outright ban.

“It would make more sense to raise the property tax but give a credit on income tax if they are participating in the local markets. That would make the tax system more efficient and avoid all discrimination. This surcharge would also allow much more effective data collection as people would have an incentive to report their income taxes and link them to their property taxes in order to get that credit.”

Joshua Gottlieb, associate professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, explains why banning foreign buyers from the Vancouver market won't solve the city's affordability problem.